I've gotten to the point where I actually like to read Bret Stephens' op-eds in the Times even if there are some areas (e.g., climate change) where he is full of crap. This piece, "A Letter to My Liberal Friends" has some valid points. The problem, though, is one that is common in many conservatives commentaries: it ascribes beliefs and motives to "liberals" that maybe aren't there.
In this essay he implies that all of us people in the Left want the whole country to be like California. Then he proceeds with a litany of all the shitty things in California, and therefore proving that liberals are all wrong.
I am a lefty living in Chicago. There are a lot of good things happening in California. And people can find lots of bad things. But I can say unequivocally that I have no desire for Chicago to be, say, San Francisco. I would also tell Mr. Stephens that there are actually many days that go by when California doesn't even enter my mind, much less wishing I lived there, or that I want this place to be more like it.
So, I am actually more than happy to hear good-faith arguments about where I might be misguided. But this straw man doesn't measure up.
1 comment:
Look at some of the GOP Californians in the House. *eyeroll* Every state has its down sides.
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